Portable washing plant



J. P. DOVEL.

PORTABLE WASHING PLANT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 2l, 1915. 1,309,754. L Patented July 15, 1919.

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J. P. DOVEL.

PORTABLE WASHING PLANT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 21, 1915- v 1,309,754, Patented July 15, 1919.

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James P. Bowl,

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Portable Washin STATES PATENT ornron.

JAMES P. DOVEL, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

PORTABIJJE WASHING PLANT.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JAMES P. DOVEL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Birmingham, in the county of J efferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lowing is aspeci cation.

My invention relates to a portable washing apparatus which is capable of being transported to the point where the material to be treated is excavated and to there effect a substantial washing. of the material so that it is .necessary only to transport the desired portion of the material to the point My invention was conceived as a means for improving the present methods of mi'n brown ore, but

ing, separating and washin it .is obviously capable 0 other analagous uses.

According to the brown ore, together with a large proportion of clay, gravel and other foreign matter, is excavated and transported from the vaadaptation to rious mines to a statlonary washing plant where the ore is washed, picked and delivered to railway cars or lorries for transportation to the furnace. Inasmuch, as the ore constitutes generally about one-fifth of the material excavated and transported to the washer, it will be evident that a con: siderable expense is unnecessarily incurred in transporting the raw material to the -washerand I have conceived that if a portable washer is designed so that it will treat the excavated material at the mine so as to effectually separate the ore therefrom,

marked economy in operation will be obtained as then it will be necessary only to transport the washed ore either directly to the furnace, or, if desired, to a further washing plant for final treatment.

With these objects in view I have designed a portable carriage .upon which is mounted a plurality of rotating screens, one having large diameter holes and the other small diameter holes, and these are driven by a small power plant on the carriage which is also adapted to drive an elevator by means of which the washed material can be delivered to cars or lorries.

One feature of my invention which is of particular importance in a portable washing plant is the concentric arrangement of the two perforated screening cylinders one Specification of Letters Patent.

Plants, of which the fol-v present practice the sludge. In this connection the is adapted to operate a centri ugal pump Patented July 15, 1919.

Application filed September 21, 1915. 7 Serial No. 51,881.

within the other and providing means to deliver clay and smaller lumps of ore after a prellminary screening into the inner'rotating screen which has the larger diameter of openings.

to the provision of a forced feed means for the material both inside and outside. of'the two. screening cylinders, the advantage ofthis arrangement being that the washer can operate at nearly any inclination which the nature of the work offers and it is not necessary to provide a level foundation. Moreover by avoiding the gravity feed the screens thus bring can be disposed horizontally and their feed hopper low enough to conveniently receive the material from the steam shovels..

A further feature of my invention relates to the arrangement of the sludge tank which opens .in its upper portion into the boot of the elevator, the latter receiving the screened material from the two rotating screens,

which material the elevator discharges into cars, when the apparatus is worked to recover the lump material or the elevator discharges the lumps to the waste when the I apparauts is worked to recover the fines or ments of parts which in their preferred embodiments only are hereinafter disclosed and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus with the cabcover removed.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line aa-m of Fig. 1 with the cab partly broken away.

Figs. 3 and 4 are cross sectional views of Fig. 1 (the latter being enlarged), taken on the lines 33 and H, respectively.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

My apparatus iron bed frame 1 having forward steering wheels 2 and rear driving wheels 3, the lat- A further feature of my invention relates I ower plant 85 water so that it will 90 is mounted upon an angle spaced sufliciently ter being adapted to be driven by gears 4 through suitable transmission from a motor 5 that may be of any suitable type, but is preferably an electric motorwhere current is obtainable. A second motor 6 is provided and. adapted, through a suitable gearing, to drive a shaft 7 which extends substantially from end to end of the frame and is mounted to rotate in end bearings 8. At the forward end of the apparatus I provide a hopper 9 having one side cut away to provide for an overhanging chute 10 preferably disposed level with the flat bottom of the hopper in which is provided a screen grating 11 formed of parallel bars to pass all but the larger lumps of ore and rock deposited in the hopper. Below the hopper is a sloping bottom 12 which terminates in a lateral annular discharge chute 13 which delivers the preliminary screened material into the forward end of the inner rotatable screen 14 formed by a perforated cylindrical metal drum mounted by the spiders 15 on the shaft 7. Within the screen 14. I mount a series of spaced angle bars 16 forming internal ribs which extend lengthwise thereof and have a slight spiral arrangement to prevent the accumulation of material at the inner end of this screen, and force it to move lengthwise through the screen. The perforations in the screen 14 are of substantial diameter, being preferably large enough to freely pass half inch material. by a perforated cylindrical metal drum, is

mounted concentrically about the screen 14,

having the same length and being connected in spaced relationship to the screen 14 by 'means'of a spirally disposed rib 18 which extends from end to end of the screens and is designed to serve as a feed screw for the material between the screens. The perforations in'the outer screen 17 are of very small diameter, such, for instance, as an eighth of an inch, so that only the fines or the sludge will pass therethrough. The screen 17 works in a semi-circular trough 19 which is struck on a curve from the center of the shaft 7 and is suitably mounted on the frame so as to be sufficiently spaced from the outer periphery of the screen 17 to receive a spiral screw feed rib 20 disposed about the outer periphery of the screen 17, and adapted to discharge the sludge from the trough. The forward end wall 21 of the trough is cut away to receive and support the chute 13 and. to close the forward ends of the screens. At its rear end the trough dis charges in a sludge tank 22 having at its bottom on one side an outlet pipe 23. The two rotary screens 14 and 17 project through the side wall 24 an elevator boot which is preferably formed in and communicates with the'upper portion of the sludge tank 22 and has its bottom The outer screen 17, formed and discharge in wall 26 sloping downwardly and joining the outlet side wall of the tank immediately above pipe 23. An endless bucket elevator 27, supported by suitable frame work 28, works in the elevator boot and serves to lift the screened ore or material that is discharged into the boot from the inside of the two screens and deliver it to a chute 29 at an elevation sufiicient to fall into a railroad car or lorry. A water outlet pipe 30 leads. from the elevator boot and connects with the pipe 23, and I provide a valve 31 in the pipe 23 between the tank 22 and pipe 30 and I adjust this valve to back up the water in tank 22 until it overflows into the elevator boot and maintains the desired quantity of water therein. The water has a free outlet from the boot through pipe 30, so the apparatus will not flood.

- Water from any suitable source of supply is passed through a hose 32 to a spray pipe 33 which extends lengthwise over the top of the screen 17 and connects with a spray pipe 34 which passes around the hopper 9 immediately below the screen bars 11 therein. The sludge tank is preferably underhung from the frame.

The power plant for the apparatus is protected by a cab 35 at the rear end of the frame and I provide at one side of the cab a platform 36 upon which the operator stands and guides the carriage by means of a steering wheel 37, the shaft 38 of which passes above the near driving wheel 3 and operates a steeringgear 39 which is con nected by chains 40 to the forward steering wheels 2.

In operation, the apparatus, having been driven under its own power to the point where the ore or other material to be treated is being excavated, the material as excavated by steam shovels is dumped into the hopper 9 where it is workedover the screen bars 11, the large lumps being thrown ofi the chute 10 and the smaller lumps, dirt and gravel passing through the chute 13 and into the inner screen 14. As the screens rotate the ribs 16 feed the largest lumps longitudinally through the screen 14 until they finally fall into the elevator boot. The gravel, small lumps and sludge pass through the screen 14 and fall upon the screen 17 where they are acted upon by the spiral rib 18 and fed lengthwise along the screen 17, the sludge working through the small apertures in the screen 17 and the small lumps and pieces of ore larger than one-eighth inch, which cannot pass through this screen 17 are finally discharged also into the boot of the elevator. The sludge is fed lengthwise of the trough 19 by the external sp1ral rib 20 about the screen 17 and discharged into the sludge tank. The sludge tends to settle let pipe 23 at such a rate that the water level in the tank will be maintained above the top of the elevator boot so as to maintain the latter full of water so that the elevator buckets dip therein and work under water in picking up the ore, the excess water, as the buckets rise, draining back into the tank. The water sprays from the pipe 33 and serves to keep the screen 17 clean and to further wash the large and small lumps inside the two screens. By having a forced feed for the material the carriage can operate on an incline with its forward end Well below its rear end and by avoiding inclining the screens and having the underhung sludge tank, the hopper 9 is brought to a convenient level for receiving the material from the steam shovel.

In the event the apparatus is working down a slope it may be necessary to pump away the sludge and for this purpose a main power shaft 41, which is driven by the motor 5, is provided with a clutch 42 by means of which the motor can be disconnected from the driving gearing and adapted to drive a shaft 43 carrying a pulley 44. A small centrifugal pump 45 (see Fig. 3) may be connected to the pipe 23 and driven by a belt (not shown) from the pulley 44.

It will be obvious that when the object of the operation is to recover and treat the fines or sludge, the material dumped from the elevator and from chute 10 will go to the waste and all of the sludge can be pumped from the pipe 23 to the point of treatment.

My apparatus may be thus adapted to a variety of mining purposes for which a portable washingplant would prove valuable.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a portable ore washer, a Wheeled frame, a hopper set low on said frame and adapted to receive material from a steam shovel, a stationary screen in the ho per, a feed chute under said screen, a dou le rotating screen horizontally disposed under said chute arranged to discharge into one end, positive helical feed means to advance thematerial lengthwise in the screen, a sludge trough mounted closely under the screen, a helical feed screw carried by the screen and adapted to force the feed of sludge lengthwise of said trough, an underhung sludge tank into which said trough discharges, and an elevator boot mounted in said tank below the normal water level therein and disposed beneath the discharge ends of said screen.

2. In a portable ore washer, rotatable screening means and a sludge trough mounted thereunder, a sludge tank into which said sludge trough discharges, an elevator boot mounted in the sludge tank With its open top below the normal Water level therein and under the discharge end of said screening means, and a valve controlled sludge outlet for said sludge tank.

3. In a portable ore washer, rotatable screening means and a sludge trough mounted thereunder, a sludge tank into which said sludge trough discharges, an elevator boot mounted in the sludge tank with its open top below the normal water level therein and under the discharge end of said screening means, a valve controlled sludge outlet for said sludge tank, and an overflow outlet for the tank and boot leading .from the latter, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

Witness:

NoMm WELSH. 

